Industry leading mobile commerce entrepreneurs Paul English and Ben
Fischman have partnered with the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) to develop a
mobile app that enables rider tracking all day long and fundraising
year-round. The new app, already being used to fundraise by thousands of
participants, will debut Intelligent Tracking features on Aug. 2 and 3
when more than 5,800 PMC cyclists from 34 states and nine countries will
ride in the 35th annual PMC with the goal of raising $40
million for adult and pediatric patient care and cancer research at
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jimmy Fund. To download the app
on your iPhone, text “PMC” to 37937.

The app helps riders in the annual bike-a-thon manage their personal
fundraising campaign on their iOS device (an Android version will be out
by year-end). They can email their contacts directly from their iPhones
to seek contributions and utilize the application to track response
rates and send follow-up messages accordingly. They can also easily
thank those who donated to support their ride.

Just as important, the new app enables riders to track each other and
their own progress over the course of the two-day, 190-mile event. Teams
and friends that ride together inevitably separate along the route and
the app will help them reunite. In addition, riders’ friends and
supporters can download the app to stay updated on their progress. The
location data transmitted by the app will support the “Call for Help”
feature riders can use to seek immediate aid. The PMC will use the data
to more quickly come to riders’ assistance in the event of an accident,
mechanical problem, or even a rider who mistakenly strayed from the
route.

“Thorough its “breadcrumb” technology, the app keeps tabs on riders
periodically and then shuts itself off in between pings. This allows
riders to be tracked for an entire day without draining their phones’
batteries,” says PMC Vice President of Operations, David Hellman, who
worked closely with Fischman and English to develop the app. “No other
app makes it possible for a rider to be tracked for a century ride
without a battery refill,” he says.

Paul English, the founder and former CEO of Kayak.com and now CEO of
Blade, Boston’s hottest consumer tech foundry, and Ben Fischman, founder
and former CEO of Rue La La and founder of Launch, a platform to create
new innovative ecommerce businesses, came together this past spring to
develop the app. Fischman, a three-year PMC rider, approached the PMC
with his desire to help the organization after his first ride. He
brought English, a seven-year PMC rider into the project and together
they committed their funding and expertise to develop the PMC app.
English leads the design and development and Fischman provides human
interface and marketing expertise.

“The PMC is such an innovative fundraiser, we were excited to create
technology that can make fundraising simpler and more effective for all
involved,” Fischman says. “This app is our first step with much more
innovation to come. It’s been incredible working directly with the folks
at the PMC to bring this first version of the app live.”

“The technology is more intelligent than that of other tracking apps
because it knows how to most efficiently keep track of a rider,” says
English. “Other athletic fundraising events are interested in this
technology, but we created it for the PMC out of our love for the event.”

According to PMC Founder and Executive Director, Billy Starr, many of
the PMC’s innovations over the past 35 years have come from passionate
PMC riders who desire to lend their professional expertise to the event.
“Accepting riders’ contributions of intellectual property, as well as
funding, is one of the ways the PMC is able to raise more money than any
other athletic fundraising event in the U.S. and one of the reasons it
is able to give 100 percent of every rider raised dollar directly to
cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,” Starr
says.

About the Pan-Mass Challenge

The Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) is an annual bike-a-thon that today raises
more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event
in the world. The PMC was founded in 1980 by Billy Starr, who remains
the event’s executive director, an annual cyclist, and a fundraiser. The
PMC has since raised $414 million for adult and pediatric patient care
and cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jimmy
Fund. The event donates 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar
directly to the cause. In 2013, the PMC generated more than 50 percent
of the Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue and was Dana-Farber’s single largest
contributor. In 2014, PMC cyclists will ride with the goal of raising
$40 million. The PMC has successfully melded support from committed
cyclists, volunteers, corporate sponsors and individual contributors.
All are essential to the PMC's goal and model: to attain maximum
fundraising efficiency while increasing its annual gift. The PMC’s hope
and aspiration is to provide Dana-Farber's doctors and researchers with
the necessary resources to discover cures for all cancers. For more
information on the Pan-Mass Challenge, log onto www.pmc.org.

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